All Posts By

Frederike Yilmaz

punker awarded “Supplier of the Year” by RATIONAL AG for second year in row

Posted on 17. June 2019

punker has successfully defended the first place in the supplier evaluation of our long-standing partner RATIONAL AG. This is the fourth time that we have been named “Supplier of the Year”. Since 2005 punker has been supplying fan wheels for the combi steamers and SelfCookingCenter (c) of the world market leader Rational, whose cooking systems have become the standard in the professional kitchens of the world. In June 2019, Rational delivered the 1,000,000th combi steamer.

At punker, we attach great importance to long-term cooperation with our customers – which has paid off in the case of Rational through repeated occupancy of the TOP 5 places in the supplier evaluation.

These punker fan wheel series deliver optimum air performance for applications in the food industry such as ovens, combi steamers, cooking cabinets, smoking ovens, etc.

punker is RATIONAL’s “Supplier of the Year” 2017

Posted on 2. November 2018

September 29th, 2018 was a special day for punker. The company RATIONAL AG had its technical director Peter Wiedemann as well as Wolfgang Wirtz, Aldo Paintner and Dr. Uli Mach personally bring us very good news: the award of punker GmbH as “Supplier of the Year” 2017.

SelfCookingCenter (c) RATIONAL AG

RATIONAL AG is a very important customer for punker and manufactures combination ovens, i.e. “SelfCookingCenter” for the thermal preparation of food in gastronomy, canteen kitchens, chain stores and catering. In the meantime, Rational has advanced to become the world’s largest manufacturer in this sector. We have been able to accompany Rational on this path since 2002. The fact that we have developed into a strategically important partner for Rational during this time is also shown by the development of the quantities of spot-welded fan wheels that we supply – these have increased 4.5 times since the beginning of the cooperation. The fan wheels supplied by us guarantee a perfectly matched air distribution in the appliance for an even cooking result.

Now for the good news: punker has again managed to become the “Supplier of the Year” with more than 96 points in 2017 due to the outstanding delivery and quality performance in the year 2017. In a solemn hour Peter Wiedemann emphasized the extraordinary performance of the punker team. Around 60 colleagues were able to receive the great award this morning.

After the first top ranking in 2004, a 2nd place in 2011 followed, which was transformed into a 1st place again in 2012. In the year 2017 our team has now reached first place for the third time. It is no coincidence that Dr. Uli Mach’s eulogy says “right up to the worker, everyone identifies with the Rational product”.

Partners

The True North in Silicon Valley

Posted on 5. September 2018

At the end of August I travelled to Silicon Valley as part of a delegation trip organized by the state government of Schleswig-Holstein under the leadership of Dirk Schrödter, head of the state chancellery – and flew home very impressed and enthusiastic. Other high-ranking representatives of the state government as well as the city of Kiel, the state parliament faction, the council meeting of the city of Kiel, many universities, the business development agencies, the Chamber of Commerce and the WTSH (Business Development and Technology Transfer), the economy and the initiators of the partnership regions around San Francisco and Kiel participated in the more than 60-member delegation. Star guests were the representatives of 4 start-ups from Kiel.

The innovative power of the Silicon Valley was particularly impressive from close up, which can be attributed to the interaction of university (Stanford University), venture capital and ambitious founders, professionally supported by accelerators that systematically bring the partners together – also with the scouts of large corporations, especially from Germany. Plug and Play is the most successful accelerator. Together all partners are spurred to top performance – a bit like a fever for success. The results are known and can be seen.

The delegation perceived and experienced these mechanisms of action and this culture together. And everyone was enthusiastic and convinced: that’s how similar we can be. A clear commitment to the cooperation of all parties involved, also in Schleswig-Holstein. I am confident that Schleswig-Holstein’s innovative strength – and thus its attractiveness – can be driven forward on the basis of this common spirit: what can everyone contribute to make it a success? A start has been made with the establishment of the Northern Germany Innovation Office in San Francisco, managed by Tim Jöhnk, a young man from Kiel who has been working in Silicon Valley for several years and has an excellent network. The perfectly organized trip was very worthwhile! I’m glad I was there.

More information regarding the Northern Germany Innovation Office…

Together

punker Corporate Video

Posted on 6. March 2018

punker Shooting Tooling Department

punker Shooting Headquarters

punker Drawing

punker Shooting Sales

punker Shooting Dispatch

punker Shooting Wheel Assembly

punker Shooting Parts Production

punker Shooting Welding Robots

It’s round, it’s spinning, it’s impossible to imagine today’s world without it – the wheel. It is considered the most important invention of mankind and the key to technical development. And with it the origin of the punker fan wheels, which move air all over the world. Air for the climatisation of office buildings, the cooling of compressors, for drying our laundry, for cooking of your dinner to perfection, to keep the air clean in paint booths and so much more.

In our new corporate video, you will experience how we reinvent the wheel every day and move the world with true passion for innovation and over 60 years of experience.

We leave idleness to others. And reinvent the [fan] wheel over and over – each and every day.

Experience the innovative power of true passion. Experience innovative fan wheels, engineered in Germany.

Facts & Figures Markets

2018 AHR Expo

Posted on 2. February 2018

The new Dlight - welded for HVAC applications.

In 2018, energy efficiency was again one of the topics exhibitors and visitors were concerned with at the 2018 AHR Expo, which was held from January 22 -24 in Chicago. Thus, the punker exhibition team was thrilled about the great interest with which the high-efficiency D-Series fan wheels were met once again. Presented for the first time was an extremely lightweight fan impeller in a welded execution: the Dlight – welded.

New Product: Dlight – welded

With the Dlight – welded, punker adds to the existing D-Series, a product range of energy-efficient diffusor fan wheels unhoused applications such as plug fans, plenum fans, and air handling. The welded aluminum impeller offers a high ventilation system performance paired with low weight and pleasant acoustics. It is suited for applications that require a static pressure increase of 4 – 5.5″ WG (AMCA Class I) and compatible with various AC or EC drives.

AHR Expo – International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition

AHR Expo is the most important exhibition for Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigerating on the American continents. With an estimated 70,000 visitors and 2,100 exhibiting companies, this year’s show is the largest event since it’s start in 1930. In the good company of industry giants like ebm-papst, Ziehl-Abegg, Rosenberg and Comefri, punker exhibited fan wheels “Engineered in Germany – Made in the USA” for the seventh year in a row.

HVAC Manufacturers confident About Economic Outlook

The record-breaking visitor count is congruent with HVAC manufacturers’ extremely positive outlook for the fiscal year of 2018. According to the latest AHR Expo and ASHRAE Journal Annual Economic Outlook Survey, 89% of responders expect excellent or good growth, up 15% from the already positive outlook in 2017. The development of sales indicates that this is not just a snapshot: 69% of respondents reported higher sales in 2017 versus 57% in 2016. The percentage of businesses with a significantly higher sales growth (more than 10% year-on-year) increased as well, from Und 23% in 2016 to 34% in 2017.

punker meets Market Requirements of Reliability and Energy Efficiency

With such a positive outlook for the new fiscal year, many manufacturers are looking for the latest and best technologies and products. With regard to customer expectations, respondents continue to consider reliability and energy efficiency as the most influential factors in their 2018 buying decisions. With the D-Series, punker offers the right solution for these market requirements. This was also reflected in an even higher number of visitors on our booth, compared to the previous year.

Partners

plus-MINT Talent Program

Posted on 10. October 2017

Exactly half a year after punker GmbH visited the World Market Leaders’ Forum at the boarding school, day school and IB World school Louisenlund, the 16 students of the Louisenlund talent program”plus-MINT” reunited with us in Eckernförde. At the punker headquarters, the emerging talent learned more about a medium-sized company from Schleswig-Holstein, where Mathematics, Information Technology, Natural Sciences and Technology – MINT for short – are used every day – which by the way is also Europe’s market leader in the development and production of radial fan wheels.

Why did the student group visit punker?

Like the Louisenlund Foundation, punker GmbH is a premium partner of the WT.SH partner program “Schleswig-Holstein. The True North.” Contact had already been established at the first World Market Leaders’ Forum with a focus on MINT in Louisenlund. At the subsequent MINT job fair the students showed great interest in the European market leader’s air-movement solutions. punker gladly invited the students and program coordinator Janet Blankenburg Ph.D. to Eckernförde to learn more about the delevoper and manufacturer of radial impellers. A view behind the scenes was, of course, part of their visit. The 16 young talents were given a tour of all production-relevant departments. From the R&D department, to the tooling shop and parts production right up to the wheel assembly and welding. Christian Hornhardt (Head of Technology) and Markus Oberle (Head of Order Fulfillment) answered questions about the market orientation of the punker Group, project cycles of new developments, various production processes, challenges in high-security-sensitive customer applications or the product pricing strategies.

What is the plus-MINT program about?

18 students from classes 9 through 12 currently attend the plus-MINT program at Louisenlund. One thing these students have in common is that they have the enthusiasm and aptitude for Mathematics, Information Technology, Natural Sciences and Technology – in short, MINT. A specially developed curriculum promotes these gifted students. This above-average promotion is adapted to the specific abilities of the students in the respective MINT subjects. The level of the four-year school education course is far above the regular Abitur (german university entrance diploma) level of a regular school and considers all talents, regardless of their social origin or nationality.

The Association for MINT Talent Promotion e. V., along with several plus-MINT boarding schools, offers a promotion of talent for highly qualified students in mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry, physics, following the example of the successful promotion of talent by the German Football Association.

Solutions

New Product Portfolio

Posted on 4. July 2017

The punker product portfolio is fit for the energy-efficient future of ventilation system solutions

The punker product development and strategy team, made up of sales and R&D employees, is very close to the market and can therefore respond to the changing needs of our customers at an early stage and continuously optimize our product portfolio. Within a short time, four new blower wheel series have been introduced with the D-Series(Dlight, Dclassic and Dprime) and the Slight.

The D-Series provides the answer to any challenge of unhoused HVAC applications, making it the best solution for your applications in which you have used our R63D1, R63D2 and R63D-HVAC series in the past. The Slight for use in spiral housings, as well as free-blowing, is ideally suited for certified F400 / C4 applications such as smoke extraction and heat exhaust. In addition, smaller sizes of the Slight can be used as a surrogate for less energy-efficient forward-curved wheels. With the Slight, punker provides a sustainable alternative for the HLR70, R67 / 75, R69L1 and R63B1 series.

Over the course of the coming months, the punker product portfolio will be further optimized and consolidated so that our customers will always receive the best possible solution for their standard and high-tech ventilation applications.

To speed up your search for the best suited fan wheel series for your application, we have structured our fan wheel series – the well-established and the newly developed – and their most important technical features in an easy to navigate, interactive series-industry matrix.

The punker World of Ventilation at a click of the mouse:

Clicking a product name opens the fan wheel series’ technical features.

Markets

AHR Expo Las Vegas – Energy efficiency in the desert

Posted on 17. February 2017

End of January 2017, the AHR participation (largest trade show for Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration in the US) was on punker’s agenda, already for the 6^th time in a row. The presentation of the new, highly efficient punker D-Series was a home run – this year’s show in Las Vegas was all about energy efficiency.

The exposition took place in the Las Vegas Convention Center (Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, 2017). Honestly, we had some doubts if Las Vegas was the right place for an industry trade show. But only 30 minutes after the opening these doubts proved wrong: The enormous appeal of ‘fabulous Las Vegas’ brought a visitors record already on day one. Obviously, many visitors combined a visit of Las Vegas and the trade show by arriving already the weekend before.

Our booth in the Central Hall was crowded by visitors on Monday morning: Frank Mueller (Area Sales Manager North, Central and South America), Juergen Beinke (Director Global Sales) and myself had many opportunities to spread the enthusiasm for our new energy efficient D-Series. While the interest in energy efficient solutions was still low during the 2016 AHR Expo in Orlando, it had sparked very strong interest by this year.

Energy Efficiency Everywhere

The yearly survey amongst the trade show visitors by the ASHRAE Journal (monthly journal published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) confirmed the increased awareness of energy efficient solutions: 60,5% of the 700 respondents indicated that energy efficiency is the most important aspect for their customers (ahead: 74,2% Reliability, 70,4% Cost). Only 4% indicated that customers are not willing to pay more for energy efficiency, almost 80% confirmed the increased willingness to pay more, another 80% is actively on the lookout for ‘green’ or sustainable products on the trade show. However, only 25% of the respondents notice a support or even incentives by the state to change to energy efficient products or technologies.

By presenting ‚Increasing Energy Efficiency with the new punker Diffuser Technology’ in the New Product & Technology Theater of the AHR Expo, Frank Mueller and Juergen Beinke succeeded in demonstrating to even more trade show visitors, how the punker D-Series fan wheels increase the energy efficiency of free blowing HVAC systems and reduce the operating costs at the same time.

“Made in USA” and “America first”

Apart from energy efficiency, another aspect was a hot topic in many business discussions: The question if our products are made in USA. Already in 2016, we put a strong focus on showing that we are producing in the US. The significance of ‘made in USA’, however, has even more increased, mainly due to the ‘America first’ attitude of the Trump administration and their announcement to impose punitive tariff duties on certain imports from Germany. Whatever the reason for this question was – the fact, that punker produces in the USA for the US market is key to our successful business relations in this market.

Next AHR Expo is from Jan. 22-24, 2018, in Chicago. Already looking forward to your visit on our booth No. 3337!

Partners

Business Skills for Ph.D.s

Posted on 31. October 2016

We are excited to be part of the program “Business skills for Ph.D.s”, organized by the doctoral candidate’s representation of Kiel University (CAU) and the Education Cluster opencampus.sh. The program offers a unique chance to gain insights into the organization of 8 large companies in Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark.

Last Friday, October 28, 2016, we welcomed 10 doctoral candidates at the punker headquarters in Eckernförde. punker CEO Dr. Henning Bähren gave our guest from Pakistan, Japan and Germany an overview of the punker Group’s history, product portfolio, customer base and company structure before starting off on a tour of our production facilities. The diverse academic background of our visitors (from Electrical Engineering, Material Sciences and Biology to Business Administration) sparked an exciting and versatile subsequent Q&A session and discussion. Topics included Lean Management at punker, possible product or service diversification models and punker’s medium-term growth strategy, as well as career opportunities with Northern German small and medium sized businesses. The doctoral candidates were surprised to learn about the number of modern, successful and internationally aligned businesses in Schleswig-Holstein. This showed us yet again that initiatives like “Schleswig-Holstein. The True North.” (Der echte Norden) and our involvement in the incorporated partner program for businesses in Schleswig-Holstein are of great importance to promote career opportunities for high professionals in the “True North”. punker was the first stop of the program. Over the next three months, the group will visit seven more businesses in Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark:

4th of November: Mach3 – The marketer of the three radiostations RSH, delta radio and Radio BOB. Perfect marketing for everyone.
18th of November: Macio – User Interface Design and software engineering from one source.
25th of November: Die Futter-Manufaktur – Founded in 1870 this family business managed the transformation into an innovative manufactory for forage.
2nd of December: FLS – In Heikendorf located Fast Lean Smart is the recognized technology leader in the development and implementation of workforce management, route optimization and mobile solutions in Europe.
9th of December: Eisenschmidt Consulting Crew – Their mission is to guide people and companies out of a crisis, support their development and give meaning to economy and life.
13th of January: Danfoss – Founded in 1933 the business has grown from a solo enterprise into one of the world’s leading suppliers of energy-efficient and innovative solutions.
20th of January: Dräger – Dräger is a leading international company in the fields of medical and safety technology. No matter where Dräger products are used: it’s always about life.

About opencampus.sh

opencampus.sh aims at connecting Kiel’s colleges and universities with businesses and organizations. Students get a chance to apply their knowledge, look into different career options and find their own professional path.

With the entrepreneurship program “job starter”, the opencampus.sh wants to guide and inculcate the entrepreneurial thinking in international students who are interested in launching their own ventures or invest in new business projects, with a lifelong commitment to achieve social and economic progress globally.

www.opencampus.sh

Solutions

The new D-Series

Posted on 3. October 2016

Endurance and efficiency – these are not only the unique features of our punker fan wheels but this is characteristic for the whole punker team. Our key objective is to continuously optimize each product, no matter how good it is. Based on the former R63D wheels, we developed a new, highly efficient fan wheel series with integrated diffuser technology – in short: The “D-Series“.

The unique characteristics of this series, specifically designed for unhoused fan wheels, is more than ‘state of the art’. The mechanical efficiency static of up to 75% is perfect to meet or exceed our industrial and ventilation customers’ energy efficiency requirements. We also focus on our customers’ cost effectiveness. This is why our R&D Team designed each of the 3 varieties of the D-Series not only with highest durability but also with optimal material input in mind.

The Dlight made of aluminum is available in tapped version for a diameter range of 225-630 mm (9″ – 25″). It is preferably used in pressure ranges from 1000 – 1500 Pa (4 – 6 in. WG – AMCA Class I) with a tip speed of up to 55 m/s (180 fps). This fan wheel stands up successfully against the already available competitors’ products.
The Dclassic works best in a pressure range from 1.500-2.500 Pa (6 – 10 in. WG – AMCA Class II) and is available in a diameter range of 225 – 1000 mm (9″ to 39 3/8″). This welded steel design with a maximum tip speed 75 m/s (246 fps) is powder coated by default and comes with the well proven taperlock system.
The diffuser series would not be complete without the Dprime made of aluminum for a performance range of 2500-4000 Pa (10 – 16 in. WG – AMCA Class III), additionally optimized with regards to acoustics by airfoiled blades. This fan wheel is currently still in test stage and will be presented to the public in spring 2017.

Being Sales Director of the punker group, I am firmly convinced that this new series with all its features provides an attractive product range that enables our customers to meet the current requirements for energy efficiency but also the costs resulting from these new requirements. With its three different types light, classic and prime the D-Series offers a big variety of applications and combines a lot of benefits in one single product family: super silent, absolutely efficient, extremely robust, surprisingly small and exceedingly lightweight.

I am very much looking forward to show you all these benefits of our new wheel series in a face-to-face conversation. Meeting opportunities will be for example at the AHR Expo in Las Vegas or during the ISH in Frankfurt, Germany. Or feel free to contact our Sales Team at your earliest convenience.

I would like to take the opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the whole punker team as well as for demonstrating amazing team spirit by developing these fantastic new products.

Discover the new D-Series at the following trade shows:

AHR Expo Las Vegas
International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition
Jan. 30 – Feb. 01, 2017
Booth No. C1832

Please join our presentation in the New Product & Technology Theatre:
“Increasing Fan Wheel Efficiency with New Diffuser Technology”
Date/Time: Monday, 1/30/2017 – 3:15 pm
Location: Theater B

ISH Frankfurt, Germany
The world’s leading trade fair for the Bathroom Experience, Building, Energy, Air-conditioning Technology, Renewable Energies
March 14-18, 2017
Hall 11.1, Booth No. C28

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